Thermal Stabilities and Thermal Degradation Kinetics of a Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Star Block Copolymer

The thermal and thermo-oxidative degradation behaviors of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) star block copolymer were reported using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). TGA coupled with Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy was used to characterize the degradation volatile of SBS in air atmosphere. The thermal degradation kinetics of SBS in nitrogen and air atmospheres was studied in three steps: (1) the activation energies E _α were estimated by iterative method; (2) the proper form of f(α) was deduced by Popescu method; (3) the results obtained by above steps were used in determination pre-exponential factor A.     

Optimizing Injection Molding Toward Multiple Quality and Cost Issues

Injection-molding part designers are frequently faced with multiple quality and cost issues. These issues are usually in conflict with each other; thus, a trade-off needs to be made to reach a final compromised solution. Because evaluation of part quality and cost via injection-molding simulation is very time-consuming, implementation of a conventional multicriteria optimization procedure for injection-molding problems is economically unfavorable. However, many injection-molding problems dealing with multiple quality and cost issues can be modeled as constrained problems, with the total cost as the objective function and quality quantities as the constraints. By introducing a concept of penalized total cost, such constrained problems are further simplified into bounded single-criterion problems. The bounded single-criterion problems are then optimized using a direct search-based optimization procedure. Strategies of modeling, transformation, and optimization for these problems are discussed in this article. A case study is provided.     

Measurement of solder joint strength in freestanding chip-scale packages using a quantitative laser spallation technique

A previously developed laser spallation technique is adapted to measure in situ the tensile strengths of geometrically heterogeneous interfaces, in multilayer freestanding chip-scale packages that were baked for specific temperatures and times. The test procedure involved quantification of the stress waves inside the packages using interferometry, and subsequent stress field quantification, including that at the failed interface, using a wave mechanics simulation. The technique is generally applicable and can be used to test any type of freestanding package. In this work, it is demonstrated on freestanding 0.5?mm-pitch MicroStar BGA^TM packages. The ball grid array joint strengths for Pb-free solders on bare Cu pads were measured to be 942?±?91, 703?±?69, 666?±?70, 441?±?42, and 392?±?45?MPa for samples that were thermally aged for 3, 10, 20, 40, and 80?days, respectively. An important result of our study is that the critical laser energy for causing joint failure was found to be approximately proportional to the peak tensile stress at the joint. This validates the discussion earlier where no stress quantification was carried out, but the interfaces were characterized only in terms of the critical laser energies and the deteriorations in the material microstructure in the solder joint region caused by thermal aging were related to the reductions in the measured critical laser energies. This powerful result shows that in the future it may suffice to use the critical laser energy for material selection and quality control during manufacturing.     

Simulation of Growth of Nonspherical Silica Nanoparticles in a Premixed Flat Flame

The growth of nonspherical silica nanoparticles in a premixed flat flame has been simulated, including the effects of convection, diffusion, thermophoresis, chemical reactions, coagulation, and coalescence. Considering both radiation effect and multistep chemical reactions of methane/air including both oxidation and hydrolysis of SiCl 4 , combustion analysis in a premixed flat flame was done first to obtain temperature, concentration of gas species, and flow fields. The predicted flame temperatures were in good agreement with the previous experimental data. Two-dimensional aerosol dynamics in which both particle volume and surface area are independent variables was then analyzed to investigate the growth of nonspherical silica particles. Several different models of coalescence of silica particles were studied: viscous flow sintering, atomistic diffusion sintering, fast sintering, and hybrid sintering models. Since the residence time was short and temperatures were not high enough for perfect coalescence of silica particles in the present study, the resulting particles were partially sintered or open-structured aggregates. The variations of total volume/number concentration and diameter of average volume along the flame height were obtained and compared with experimental data. Bi-modal size distributions were obtained at some flame heights.     

Particle Deposition in Parallel-Plate Reactors: Simultaneous Diffusion and External Forces

Particle deposition resulting from uniform external forces and Brownian motion is modeled in a parallel-plate reactor geometry characteristic of a wide range of semiconductor process tools: uniform, isothermal, downward flow exiting a perforated-plate showerhead separated by a small gap from a parallel, circular wafer. Particle transport is modeled using a Eulerian approach neglecting particle inertia and interception. Particles are assumed to originate in a planar trap located between the plates, such as would result for particles released from a plasma-induced particle trap after plasma extinction. Flow between infinite parallel plates is described by an analytic quasi-one-dimensional creeping flow approximation, where the showerhead is treated as a porous plate. An analytic, integral expression for particle collection efficiency (fraction of particles that end up on the wafer) is derived as a function of four dimensionless parameters: the flow Reynolds number, a dimensionless trap height, a dimensionless particle drift velocity, and the particle Peclet number. Numerical quadrature is used to calculate particle collection efficiency in terms of the controlling dimensionless parameters for external forces, which either enhance or inhibit particle deposition. Example calculations of collection efficiency are also presented in dimensional terms for a representative set of process conditions. Strategies to reduce particle deposition include the use of a protective external force and manipulation of the trap to keep it as far from the wafer as possible.     

Effects of a Shroud Tube on Flow Field and Particle Behavior Inside a Bag-Filter Vessel

A shroud tube was used to decrease the amount of particles toward the bag filters from whole particles entering a filter vessel. The effects of the shroud tube on the flow field and particle behavior inside the vessel were studied. The air mixed with dust particles enters the vessel through a tangential inlet duct. Some of the particles are deposited on the inside wall of the vessel and the surface of the shroud tube. The other ones are collected on the filter surface or passed through it. The particles deposited on the wall surfaces fall into a hopper by gravity, and those collected on filters are removed by back pulse-jet flow. Computational simulation was performed to know the prereduction rate of particles by deposition on the wall surfaces for the different shroud tubes. The experiment was accomplished with some shroud tubes suggested by the results of computational simulation, and the experimental results were compared qualitatively with the computational results. The shroud tube blocked the direct transport of particles toward the bag filters and reduced the particle loading onto the filters. The particle loading was reduced when the upper region of the vessel was not blocked by the shroud tube more than when the vessel was blocked wholly with the filters from the upper end wall. However, the re-entrainment of the particles removed from the filters by the back pulse cleaning increased when the upper region of the vessel was not blocked by the shroud tube more than when the vessel was blocked wholly with the filters from the upper end wall.     

Numerical Modeling of Particle Dynamics in a Cylindrical Chamber Containing a Rotating Disk

Numerical modeling was performed to study the submicron particle dynamics in a confined flow field containing a rotating disk, temperature gradient, and various inlet gas flow rates. The Lagrangian model was employed to compute particle trajectories under the temperature gradient, disk rotation speed, and inlet gas flow rate effects. The trajectories of particles with diameters of 1 μm, 0.1 μm, and 0.01 μm were examined in this study. When the inlet gas temperature was lower than that of the disk, particle-free zones were created due to upward thermophoretic force for 1 μm and 0.1 μm particles. Disk rotation was found to depress the size of the particle-free zone. Particle deposition onto the disk for 0.01 μm particles was possible because of the Brownian motion effect. A detailed evaluation of the particle-free zone size as a function of the temperature gradient, disk rotation speed, and inlet gas flow rate was performed. When the inlet gas temperature was higher than the disk temperature, particle deposition onto the disk was enhanced due to the downward thermophoretic force for 1 μm and 0.1 μm particles. Disk rotation was found to increase the deposition rate. For 0.01 μm particles, Brownian motion was more important than thermophoretic force in controlling particle behavior. The particle deposition rates as a function of the temperature gradient, disk rotation speed, and inlet gas flow rate were performed.     

The effect of pre-annealing on the microstructure of (K,Na)NbO3 ceramics

The effects of pre-annealing on the microstructure development and piezoelectric properties for 0.95(K_0.5Na_0.5)NbO₃–0.05LiSbO₃ (0.95KNN–0.05LS) ceramics were investigated. The pre-annealing suppressed the abnormal grain growth in both the undoped and Mn-doped 0.95KNN–0.05LS ceramics. The pre-annealed samples possessed smaller abnormal grains, larger matrix grains, and a broader grain size distribution compared to the samples sintered without a pre-annealing step. The pre-annealed samples presented better dielectric and piezoelectric properties, a larger dielectric constant (ε_r) and electromechanical coupling factor (k_p), and a smaller dielectric loss factor (tan δ).     

Modeling and control of protein crystal shape and size in batch crystallization

In this work, the modeling and control of a batch crystallization process used to produce tetragonal hen egg white lysozyme crystals are studied. Two processes are considered, crystal nucleation and growth. Crystal nucleation rates are obtained from previous experiments. The growth of each crystal progresses via kinetic Monte Carlo simulations comprising of adsorption, desorption, and migration on the (110) and (101) faces. The expressions of the rate equations are similar to Durbin and Feher. To control the nucleation and growth of the protein crystals and produce a crystal population with desired shape and size, a model predictive control (MPC) strategy is implemented. Specifically, the steady‐state growth rates for the (110) and (101) faces are computed and their ratio is expressed in terms of the temperature and protein concentration via a nonlinear algebraic equation. The MPC method is shown to successfully regulate both the crystal size and shape distributions to different set‐point values. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 2317–2327, 2013     

Surface force arising from adsorbed graphene oxide in alumina suspensions with different shape and size

The effects of graphene oxide (GO) on the yield stress‐pH of α‐Al₂O₃ (alumina) suspensions were investigated. For micron‐sized platelet alumina suspensions, micron‐sized GO additive increased the maximum yield stress by as much as six‐folds. This was attributed to GO‐mediated bridging interactions between the platelet particles. This type of bridging interactions was much less effective with submicron‐sized, spherical, and irregular shape alumina. Adsorption of the anionic GO reflected by the shift of pH of zero zeta potential to a lower pH is particularly high for platelet alumina. The 1.0 dwb % GO concentration added is sufficient to reinforce each platelet particle–particle bond, assisted by a directed GO–platelet interaction configuration. This is, however, not true with submicron‐sized particles as the particle concentration increases sharply with the inverse of the particle diameter to power of 3. Moreover, a GO sheet can adsorb several submicron‐sized particles and this does not produce the right interaction configuration. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 3633–3641, 2013